The purpose of this five year program is to provide high quality training to qualified scientists from Bangladesh so as to improve local capacity to carry out research in the area of childhood infectious diseases such as diarrhea, respiratory infections, with specific emphasis on maternal and neonatal infections such as sepsis and pneumococcal disease, and to strengthen collaborative ties between the participating US and Bangladeshi institutions. The program proposes to provide long-term training of three pre-doctoral (two doctoral and one masters) and two post-doctoral students as well as shorter term (non-degree) training in specific methodologies appropriate for support of childhood infectious disease research. Training offered will include epidemiology,and control of infections in neonates, children and women of reproductive age. Emphasis will also be placed on the field testing of new vaccines, community based inteventions and new diagnostics to rapidly detect illness in field settings. The training will be integrally linked to the research studies currently being conducted by Johns Hopkins and local institution investigators in Bangladesh. These include population-based studies with well established field sites, hospital-based studies, and laboratory work in support of the field and hospital studies. These studies will provide the settings in which pre-doctoral students would conduct their thesis research under guidance from US and local investigators, and would also provide re-entry research opportunities for graduates of the program. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]